Court Dismisses Case against Google over Sales Force Automation System

Case Filed: Aug 18, 2014

Case Closed: Oct 29, 2014

Court: District Court of Texas

Judge: K. Nicole Mitchell

Case Summary:

SFA Systems LLC (SFA), a Texas based company filed a case against Google Inc. (Google), a California based Delaware corporation alleging that the latter has infringed two of their US patents.

Patents in suit:

The patents at issue were: US6067525 entitled ‘Integrated computerized sales force automation system,’ and US7941341 entitled ‘Sales Force Automation System and Method’ issued on May 23, 2000 and May 10, 2011, respectively. The ‘525 patent expires^* by Oct 30, 2015 and the ‘341 patent expires^* by May 8, 2020. SFA Systems is the current assignee⁺ of the patents (source: MaxVal’s Assignment Database). The ‘525 and ‘341 patents relate to an automated sales system which facilitates the sale of an item or service by intelligently integrating into a single system, tools used by a salesperson in the sales process. 

As in Complaint:

SFA alleged that Google has directly infringed the ‘525 and ‘341 patents without permission or authority from it. SFA also alleged that Google is involved in various business activities such as making, using, selling, importing, and offering to sell computer implemented sales systems including methods for facilitating processes relating to the sale and provision methods of products and services.

Plaintiff also added that Google’s foregoing acts of infringement were willful and deliberate. Hence SFA is entitled to recovery of past damages, at a minimum, a reasonable royalty along with interests and costs.

Case Conclusion:

Joint stipulation of dismissal was filed by the parties’ and accordingly court ordered claims to be dismissed with prejudice with each party bearing its own costs and expenses, thereby ending the litigation.

MaxVal had discussed this case earlier on Aug 20^th 2014 when it was filed. The below mentioned blog address portrays the history of the case.

http://maxval-ip.blogspot.in/2014/08/sfa-systems-sues-google-over-sales.html

See 6:14-CV-00705 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.

Max-Insight enables you to access all of our patent tools such as Patent Term Estimator, Patent Family Tree, Has This Patent Been Litigated, etc. in one location. Max-Insight is available in individual subscriptions: Free, Bronze, Silver and Gold with varying usage levels, and enterprise access plans. To learn more about Max-Insight, click here.

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* Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.

+ MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.

eDekka, Ebags Resolve Patent Dispute

Case Filed: Sep 18 2014

Case Closed: Oct 29 2014

Court: District Court of Texas

Judge: Rodney Gilstrap

Case Summary:

eDekka LLC (eDekka), a Texas based company filed a case against Ebags Inc. (Ebags), a Colorado based Delaware corporation alleging that the latter has infringed one of their US patents.

Patent in Suit:

Patent Number	Title	Issue Date	Expiration Date[i]	Current Assignee[ii]
US6266674	Random access information retrieval utilizing user-defined labels	Jul 24, 2001	Jul 24, 2018	eDekka LLC

The ‘674 patent relates to method and apparatus for hierarchically storing information thatmay be input in the form of audio input such as speech, music, etc. or facsimile (FAX) or text, or combinations thereof.

As in Complaint:

The complaint alleged that Ebags infringed the ‘674 patent by making and/or using Ebag’s website and its associated websites that include “shopping cart” functionality that are covered by one or more claims of the ‘674 patent. The infringing aspects were indicated as webpages and functionality within Ebag’s website.

eDekka added that it has been damaged by the foregoing acts of infringement of its patents by the defendant and will continue to be damaged by such infringement unless enjoined by this Court.

District Court Judgment:

Plaintiff Edekka and defendant Ebags filed joint stipulation for dismissal. Court ordered dismissal with prejudice of all claims and counterclaims asserted by the other party with all costs and fees to be incurred by the respective parties.

See 2:14-CV-00425 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.

Max-Insight enables you to access all of our patent tools such as Patent Term Estimator, Patent Family Tree, Has This Patent Been Litigated, etc. in one location. Max-Insight is available in individual subscriptions: Free, Bronze, Silver and Gold with varying usage levels, and enterprise access plans. To learn more about Max-Insight, click here.

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[i] Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.

[ii] MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.

What Is The FIRST Thing NPEs Do When They Are Reassigned A Patent?

Today, Individuals or Companies are granted patents for their innovations filed (or “CLAIMED”?) that are likely to be followed an Infringement law-suit filed by a Non-Practicing Entity (NPE).

From July-September 2013, 67% of the NPEs asserted all patents from the lot they acquired.

Patent Assertion has become a common trend which has been challenging the existing patent law as well as the small businesses, particularly in U.S comparing to Europe or any other parts of the world. 

Did You Know? NPE is 4x more likely than an operating company (OC) to assert a reassigned patent.

Who are these NPEs and their targets? How likely they are to assert a patent after acquiring it? What is the buying pattern of the NPE?  Do NPE lots go unasserted?

To decipher these questions, MaxVal has leveraged the power of its Reassignment and Litigation Databank. Download full report here for free.

Key Patents of Azor, Flector, Nizoral A-D, Suprane, Vitravene Now Public

Determining Patent Term

Utility Patent protection in the US generally stays in force for twenty years.  At the same time, there are other factors that need to be considered in calculating patent term, including:

•         Priority Date or Earliest Effective Filing Date
•         Patent Term Adjustment (PTA)
•         Terminal Disclaimer (TD)
•         Maintenance Fees
•         Patent Term Extension (PTE)  

MaxVal’s Patent Term Estimation Service/Tool:

MaxVal offers comprehensive calculations of patent term estimation, considering all the aforementioned conditions. MaxVal also provides a free online tool, Patent Term Estimator that makes it easy to calculate patent term and expiry* date of US utility patents.

The table below (sourced from Patent Maker) illustrates some of the pharma and consumer electronics patents that expired* in April 2014 along with the respective products covered.

U.S. Patent Number Title	Owner/Assignee	Products Covered	Category
5616334 Low toxicity drug-lipid systems	Sigma Tau Rare Diseases	Abelcet	Pharma
5387598 Composition and galenic formulation suitable for combatting affections of the lower abdomen	Romark Laboratories	Alinia	Pharma
5622721 Dosage forms of risedronate	Warner Chilcott Company	Atelvia	Pharma
5616599 Angiotensin II antagonist 1-biphenylmethylimidazole compounds and their therapeutic use	Daiichi Sankyo Company	Azor	Pharma
		Benicar
		Benicar HCT
5607690 External anti-inflammatory and analgesic plaster preparation	Teikoku Seiyaku Co., Ltd. Altergon S.A	Flector	Pharma
6207640 Treatment of partial growth hormone insensitivity syndrome	Genentech	Increlex	Pharma
5703017 3-(Het) arylcarboxylic acid derivatives, their preparation and intermediates for their preparation	Abbvie	Letairis	Pharma
5456851 Ketoconazole shampoo containing butylated hydroxytoluene or butylated hydroxyanisole	Johnson & Johnson	Nizoral A-D	Pharma
5618913 Insulin analogues	Novo Nordisk	Novolog	Pharma
		Flexpen
		Innolet
		Mix 50/50
		Mix 70/50
		Mix 70/30 Flexpen
		Mix 70/30 Penfill
		Penfill
5622985 Method for preventing a second heart attack employing an HMG CoA reductase inhibitor	Bristol-Myers Squibb	Pravachol	Pharma
		Pravigard Pac (Copackaged)
5617906 Container for anaesthetic agent	Baxter International	Suprane	Pharma
5362718 RE44768 Rapamycin hydroxyesters	Wyeth	Torisel	Pharma
5595978 Composition and method for treatment of CMV retinites	Isis Pharmaceuticals	Vitravene Preservative Free	Pharma
5725572 Radiopaque stent	Advanced Cardiovascular Systems	Absolute Pro Vascular Self-Expanding Stent System	Health Resources
5618711 Recombinant expression vectors and purification methods for Thermus thermophilus DNA polymerase	Roche Molecular Systems	GeneSnare Differential Expression Kit	Health Resources
5458605 Coiled reinforced retractable sleeve for stent delivery catheter 5507795 Catheter with perfusion system 5549554 Catheters having separable reusable components	Advanced Cardiovascular Systems	Guidant Multi-Link Vision Coronary Stent System	Health Resources
5618924 BMP-2 products	Genetics Institute	Infuse Bone Graft	Health Resources
5812216 Method and apparatus for creating motion picture transitions according to non-linear light response	Wells Fargo Capital Finance (as agent)	Avid DS	Electronics
		Media Composer
		Media Composer Mojo/ Nitris DX
		NewsCutter
		NewsCutter Mojo/ Nitris DX
		Symphony
5619028 Digitizer for a bar code reader utilizing a first derivative signal and an analog ground comparison signal	Symbol Technologies	Itronix fex21	Electronics
5574992 Method and apparatus for reducing off-channel interference produced by a linear transmitter 5620242 Portable radio battery latch	Motorola	Motorola i700plus	Electronics
RE37585 Method for controlling configuration of laser induced breakdown and ablation	AMO Development	iFS Laser System	Vision

Patent Marker is a database of products and patents, in which the patents that apply to each product are identified. Any registered user is free to add a product for marking. Patent Marker is an online tool that makes it easy for companies/patentees to mark their products and serve notice to the public of their ownership of inventions.

The database includes powerful search functionality that can be used to identify products and their related-patents, patent expiration date, number of litigations the patent is involved, etc. The database interfaces with MaxVal’s Litigation Databank and Assignment Database to retrieve litigation and current assignee information, respectively.   

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* Expected Expiration Date